Pairing hip-hop and blues isn’t a new concept. One genre has basically spawned the other, and if the settings are different, the central concept is the same: Struggle. Vancouver hip-hop artist Cityreal found his blues connection in veteran bluesman Wes Mackey, with whom he created his latest opus Good Morning Blues. Classic blues themes (Hell Hound featuring Swollen Members’ Madchild, Angel featuring Toronto rapper D-Sisive, and single Passing Me By) bounce along to Cityreal’s urban-flavoured grooves. The album never feels like a gimmick, and the soulful, heartbroken blues vibe oozing from Mackey’s voice and guitar are perfectly intertwined with Cityreal’s production and rhymes. Good Morning Blues is just as good a blues record as it is a rap record, one where you really feel like you’ve witnessed two generations finding common ground on the same stage.

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